MOSCOW, April 10. /TASS/. A spokesman for Russia’s National Guard said its troops thwarted a sculpture heist from the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, one of the largest museums in the country, noting that the suspects tried to haul off a museum exhibit by using a hook.
"Yesterday, a security guard, who was on duty at the Mikhailovsky Castle [part of the Russian Museum] saw two unidentified men trying to descend down a rope from the bridge that crosses a moat encircling the castle, where there are niches in which sculptures are installed. Staff members of the National Guard’s security troops were sent to the scene," Spokesman Valery Gribakin said.
The two suspects were caught red-handed right when one of them, who was descending to the water by a rope, tried to mount a hook on a sculpture. Both men, in their 30s, are in police custody.
This incident comes on the heels of the recent, notorious heist pulled off at Moscow’s State Tretyakov Gallery. The painting titled "Ai-Petri. Crimea" by Arkhip Kuindzhi was stolen in broad daylight from the gallery on January 27 but was recovered the next day. The culprit was captured on camera when taking the painting worth $1mln off the wall right in front of the crowd’s faces. He managed to flee the scene and hide the masterpiece in a facility under construction near Moscow. Police later found the painting there.